The United Kingdom is an island country of western Europe. In spiritual matters per Church of Scotland Act 1921) no established church in Northern Ireland or Wales. (2) Church of England “established” (protected by the state but not “official”) Church of Scotland “national” (exclusive jurisdiction (1) Active members as of February 2020: 89 hereditary peers, 679 life peers, and 26 archbishops and bishops.Literacy: percentage of population age 15 and over literate Male: (2006) 99% Female: (2006) 99%.Life expectancy at birth Male: (2020) 79.6 years Female: (2020) 83.1 years.Density: persons per sq mi (2022) 723.4.Official languages English both English and Scots Gaelic in Scotland both English and Welsh in Wales.Head of government Prime Minister: Boris Johnson.Head of state Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II.Form of government constitutional monarchy with two legislative houses (House of Lords House of Commons ).Official name United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.The Labour Party and the New Liberalism.Walpole, Britain’s First Prime Minister.He should be sitting in the dock of The Hague charged with war crimes. There is only one court in which he should appear, and it’s not royal. On June 13, Blair will kneel before the Queen to be knighted as a blue sash is placed on his shoulder, and a velvet garter fastened to his leg, in an ornate Windsor Castle ceremony. He has profited while in Afghanistan - where he launched another imperialist adventure which didn’t turn out too well - eight million currently face starvation. Dripping in blood, Blair became a Middle East peace envoy. He read the Bible every night as human beings were blown to bits for oil.Īt least George Bush had the grace to retire to his ranch and paint puppies after he left office. He sailed close to saying God endorsed the war by revealing he’d prayed to the Lord when deciding whether to send out troops. Blair had wanted to end his prime ministerial broadcast on the eve of the invasion with ‘God Bless’, but Alastair Campbell advised against it. It’s not just in this part of the world that religion can be employed in pursuit of evil. A prime minister, who genuflected at the altar of the US war machine, was hellbent on aggression regardless of the facts.
Just last week, former defence secretary Geoff Hoon claimed he was ordered to burn a memo warning that invading Iraq could be illegal. He bombed an entire country back into the Stone Age and he did it on the basis of a lie that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. They anaesthetised war and turned it into a spectator sport for us to watch from the comfort of our armchairs.īlair did not ‘liberate’ Iraq. The embedded broadcast media spoke of ‘surgical strikes’, ‘precision bombing’ and ‘shock and awe’ in 2003. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children - who never dropped a bomb nor held a gun - had their precious lives snatched from them. Some 179 British servicemen died, and every one of their deaths is an absolute tragedy for their families.īut Iraqi civilians paid a far greater price for the former prime minister’s deeds. Munday-Baker, whose son James was 21, said Blair “should be made to walk through a field of IEDs like our children did”. They’re threatening to return the Elizabeth Crosses she bestowed on them. “It makes a mockery of our children’s lives, and we are struggling to cope.” “We beg you to revoke his knighthood which we believe tramples on our sons’ sacrifices,” they state. She brands the knighthood “a slap in the face” to his memory.įive other bereaved mothers - Carol Valentine, Hazel Hunt, Caroline Whitaker, Caroline Jane Munday-Baker and Helen Perry - have written to the Queen. Rose Gentle’s 19-year-old son Gordon was straight out of basic Army training when he was killed by a roadside bomb in Basra. And those most strongly supporting it are the families of the men Blair sent to war who never came home. It wasn’t started by one of the ‘usual suspects’ but by former soldier and committed royalist Angus Scott. More than a million people have signed the petition to have toxic Tony stripped of his honour.
Opposition to the move is not confined to the fringes. The Queen is choosing to honour a prime minister who misled her parliament. There is nobody more ill-deserving of a knighthood than this man. Sign up to Suzanne Breen's Politics Unplugged newsletter for expert analysis of what's important at Stormont.Įnter email address This field is required Sign Up
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